A Little Thing
by soavezefiretto
Summary: Billy was already on his feet, standing close by, ready to take the President's arm and to lead her to her sleeping quarters, when, suddenly, Admiral Adama did something surprising. - The kiss in Resurrection Ship II from Billy's point of view.


Disclaimer: I don't own "Battlestar Galactica" or any of its characters or story lines. I make no money with this.

Rating: K or K+

Summary: The kiss in "Resurrection Ship II" from Billy's point of view.

A/N: English is not my native language. This is not betaed. I welcome constructive criticism.

A Little Thing

I.

To tell the truth, Billy was a bit disappointed. It had all been a very subdued affair so far. Not that he'd expected fireworks or anything, knowing these two, and under the circumstances. Still, didn't this call for more? Maybe a bit more, well, emotion on the Admiral's part? At least the President was smiling, exhausted as she was. It obviously gave her a special pleasure to hand him the little velvety box with his new insignia, she could barely hold back a little schoolgirl giggle. The Admiral's face, on the other hand, just showed an expression of mild wonder.

Yes, he'd been through a lot in the past days, but "going through a lot" was the new definition of "a day on the job". And it wasn't like he was incapable of showing emotion. Billy had seen him embrace his son, down on Kobol. He had seen him caress Lieutenant, no Captain Thrace's face as if she was his own long lost daughter - oh yes, there was plenty of emotion in the old man, and he did know how to show it. He just wasn't doing it now, and it was making Billy feel kind of sad, and a bit angry too.

Couldn't Adama see what an effort this was for her? She could barely hold her head up, for gods sake. The worry of the past days had eaten away a great deal of her strength. She had been obsessed, certain that Cain would do Adama harm, desperate to find a way to prevent that from happening, unable to think of anything else. Billy knew her well enough to know what she meant when she said "I'm so glad you didn't have to do what I suggested." She had suggested to Adama that he kill Cain, and Adama had either agreed already or was seriously considering it when that Cylon shot her. The President knew that, as much as Billy admired her, this was something he could never approve of, so of course she had never mentioned anything in his presence, but he knew anyway. He knew, and he hadn't done or said anything, and that was something he would have to live with for the rest of his life.

That was when Billy realized that the room was full of things unsaid - things that were known but couldn't be talked about; things that no one knew, but no one could ask about either; half known things, things in the dark, things in the past, things in the future, fears and hopes that no one would ever mention... No wonder the atmosphere was subdued, almost choked. There was nothing left to be said. It was all done and over in less than five minutes.

"It goes to show you, Bill - never give up hope."

"Same goes for you, Laura."

The President started to get up and out of her chair, and knowing that she couldn't do it alone, held out her hand for support. Normally, it would have been Billy sitting next to her, but now it was the Admiral who took her arm, helped her to stand, then used his other hand to steady her. She stumbled and had to grab the back of another chair to keep from toppling over. Billy could see the pain in her face, could almost feel it himself: it was physical pain, the chamalla she was taking almost didn't have effect anymore, but there was something else. It mortified her to show this kind of weakness, especially in front of the Admiral.

Although that was another thing they had never spoken about, Billy knew that she still was holding on to the idea of working until the very end. Now it was more and more apparent that that would not be possible. Either that, or this was, indeed, the very end. She was frightened, and didn't want it to show. For Adama she had always tried to maintain a very careful front of being in control, because she knew it was the only way of reassuring him and working together. Now she felt the last shred of that control slipping away from her.

Billy was already on his feet, standing close by, ready to take the President's arm and to lead her to her sleeping quarters, when, suddenly, Admiral Adama did something surprising. Instead of saying goodbye and leaving, he raised his left hand, put his fingers under the President's chin and gently turned her face towards him. He lingered like that for a long moment, just looking at her. Later, when Billy thought about that moment, the word "gaze" popped into his mind. He was gazing at her.

She looked at him as well, and right then, all the pain in her face, in her body, even all her weakness was gone. Her face relaxed, and she smiled, as if this was the most natural thing in the world. As if she'd been expecting it.

And then, the Admiral leaned forward, and kissed her mouth.

It was not a long kiss, not more than a friendly peck, really, but Billy was suddenly gripped by the certainty that he had witnessed something momentous, of extraordinary importance. He could almost feel the whoosh of doors opening and closing, of future and past shifting gears, of destinies awakening.

Of course, those were just silly exalted fantasies. His imagination tended to run away with him, always had. It was just a kiss, just a small friendly gesture. Just a little thing.

II.

After it ended, the President didn't open her eyes for a couple of seconds. Finally, she looked at the Admiral. There was a curious expression on his face, as if to say "well, there you have it, that's how it is, and there's nothing to it." Then he broke into a grin that Billy would never in a million years have imagined he was capable of. He looked very much like his son. But Billy didn't want to think about Lee Adama...

The President turned towards Billy and took his arm. For a moment, both men were holding her. It occurred to Billy that, if nothing had happened, she would have tried to leave the room unaided, and might have succeeded, too. But as of now, concerns of pride and appearances were not an issue. Not anymore. Not between these two. She took leave of the Admiral without looking at him, just gripping his arm one final time. Then she leaned heavily on Billy and let him lead her out.

"That was nice", Billy said. Later, alone in his bunk, he felt a pang of guilt and shame remembering his words - it was really a terribly inappropriate thing to say. But at the time, it hadn't even occurred to him. The whole thing, the kiss, the smiling at each other, it had all had such a natural, almost familiar quality to it, that it seemed impossible *not* to talk about it. It was like seeing a particularly beautiful rainbow and not mentioning it.

Thankfully, the President seemed to feel the same way, because she smiled and said: "Yes, it was, wasn't it?", giving one of those little hums of satisfaction and affirmation that were so peculiar to her. They reached the door to her quarters. Billy asked her if she needed anything else, then said good night and was about to leave when she called him back.

"Billy."

"Yes, madam President?"

"Why do you think he did that?"

"Well... I think that you giving him that insignia made him very happy. Happier than he showed, anyway. And he wanted to give you something that would make you happy too, but he obviously didn't have anything, so..."

"Huh."

"I - could be completely wrong, of course. It has happened before."

"Yes, it has." She shook her head. "But not this time. I don't think so." She walked up to him and kissed his cheek. It was shaping up be a kissing kind of evening. "And I prefer your version anyway."

"Thank you, madam President."

"Good night, Billy."

"Good night, madam President."

And they had both gone to bed with more unsaid words floating between them. Because Billy didn't really think Adama had kissed the President because he wanted to make her happy. He had kissed her because he wanted to say goodbye, and he couldn't think of another way. Billy knew it. Adama knew it. And the President knew it. Everyone knew, and no one said anything. Billy wondered, not for the first time, if that ever accomplished anything. It seemed to him that the truth always had a way of getting out, and the longer you kept it hidden, the more people got hurt in the end.

But maybe not this time. This time, he liked his version better too.


End file.
